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Asking a previous rabbi a question who seemed to give a very unclear and seemingly unrelated response

Question:

I asked you this question which you responded in a way that actually makes sense to the question:

https://dinonline.org/2016/12/12/when-does-a-thoughts-to-do-something-become-binding-that-i-have-to-do-it/

However I asked someone previously before asking here. I asked it like this:

How much are thoughts counted? I have anxiety so automatic thoughts are a big problem. I think of a lot of things and there are things that I know i cannot feasibly keep as an optional Mitzvah and I would suffer extreme anguish if I was forced to do to anxious thoughts. I try to shun away the thought as soon as I can. I don’t verbalize any of these thoughts.

He answered it like this:
Generally speaking, one is not responsible for things that are outside of one’s control. Of course, one has to be intellectually honest as to what is truly beyond one’s control. I can’t just scarf down forbidden foods and excuse it by saying, “I couldn’t help myself.” Obviously, thoughts are harder to control than actions but you can try to take charge of them, at least to some extent, by taking time each day to study and review material that reflects the kind of things you’d rather be thinking about.

I’m not a mental-health professional, so I can’t really address this any further. I assume you are seeing someone about the anxiety. If so, you should definitely discuss this with them.


Rabbi from…

I only recently learned about the issues with asking for second opinions. However I do not feel the answer I gotten then really was related to the question I asked. Is there an issue with accepting the response I got from Dinonline instead which as I mentioned before is this: https://dinonline.org/2016/12/12/when-does-a-thoughts-to-do-something-become-binding-that-i-have-to-do-it/

Answer:

You have no worry that it is considered a question that you already asked because he didn’t tell you anything specific, such as this is permitted or forbidden. Therefore you have no need to worry.

Have a happy Chanukah

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